The student who called Linux "just a hobby", and the licence that changed it

On 25 August 1991 a 21-year-old student at the University of Helsinki posted a short note to an online discussion group: "I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones." He meant PCs like his own, a 386.

The student was Linus Torvalds. An operating system is the base software that runs a computer and lets other programs use it. GNU was the big free software project of the day. The group he wrote to was for Minix, a small operating system used to teach students how computers work.

Thirty-five years later, the core of that software sits inside every Android phone, as we explained in Wednesday's story. And he still has the final say on what goes into it.

It began as an experiment on his own PC

Torvalds later wrote that he never set out to build an operating system: "I didn't start off to write a kernel, I just wanted to explore the 386 task-switching primitives etc, and that's how I started off (in about April-91)." The kernel is the core part that talks to the hardware. In plain words, he wanted to see how his PC moved between jobs.

His August post was modest. He asked what people liked and disliked in Minix, and added: "Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)". He warned that it would probably never support any hard disk other than the type he owned, "as that's all I have :-(".

The post does not use the word Linux. Inside his code, the system was called Freax. After the post, a helper Torvalds calls "arl" set up a folder for the project on a Finnish university download server. The folder was called Linux, and the name stuck.

Version 0.01 came out quietly

The first code, version 0.01, went onto that server in September 1991. The files in the archive are dated 17 September. There was no announcement. Torvalds wrote that the 0.01 sources "weren't actually runnable" on their own, and that "I wasn't too proud of it".

The first licence banned any fee

The release notes for 0.01 set strict terms. "This kernel is (C) 1991 Linus Torvalds." The full source code had to be available, and "You may not distibute this for a fee, not even 'handling' costs." The spelling is his.

So nobody could sell Linux, not even to cover the cost of copying it onto a disk.

Then he moved to the GPL

A few months later he changed the rule. The release notes for version 0.12, in early 1992, say: "I've had a couple of requests to make it compatible with the GNU copyleft, removing the 'you may not distribute it for money' condition. I agree." The GNU licence, known as the GPL, took effect "as of the first of February".

Under the GPL, anyone may use, change and sell the software. In return, anyone who passes it on must also make the source code available, including their own changes. Looking back later in 1992, Torvalds wrote: "The early copyright was in fact much more restrictive than the GNU copyleft: I didn't allow any money at all to change hands due to linux. That changed with 0.12."

This is the choice that matters for business. Under the GPL, companies could build products on Linux and sell them, as long as the code, with their changes, stayed open. Google and phone makers such as Samsung build Android on Linux under those same terms. That this made Linux a safe base for companies is our reading. The sources show the terms, not anyone's reasons.

He still has the final say

The kernel's own guide to its process puts it plainly: "There is exactly one person who can merge patches into the mainline kernel repository: Linus Torvalds." A patch is a change to the code. The mainline is the main, official copy.

He does not pick most of the changes himself. They reach him through a chain of trusted maintainers, each looking after one area. In 2011 the guide counted more than 9,500 changes in one release, and only 112 of them, about 1.3%, were chosen by Torvalds directly.

The pace is steady. His signed release tags show a new version about every nine to ten weeks through 2025 and 2026: 6.19 in February, 7.0 in April, 7.1 in June and 7.2 in August. LWN, a news site that tracks kernel work, counted 2,652 developers in version 7.2, a record. LWN identified 249 employers supporting them, and 613 of the developers were contributing for the first time, also a record.

One student in 1991. More than 2,600 people in a single release in 2026.

What this means for your business

A student's hobby is now the core of phones sold by Samsung and Google. The licence decided who could build on it, and on what terms.

The software your business runs on also rests on parts someone else built. For Linux, the answers are public: who has the final say, how often a new version comes out, and the licence it is under. On Monday, ask your vendor which parts sit inside your main systems, under which licences, and who looks after them.